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Turian
Known for their militaristic and disciplined culture, the turians were the third race to join the Citadel Council, gaining their Council seat in 900 CE after defeating the hostile krogan during the Krogan Rebellions. The turians deployed a salarian-created biological weapon called the genophage, which virtually sterilised the krogan and sent them into a decline, the turians then filling the peacekeeping niche left by the once-cooperative krogan. Originally from the planet Palaven, turians are best known for their military role, particularly their contributions of soldiers and starships to the Citadel Fleet. They are respected for their public service ethic - it was the turians who first proposed creating C-Sec - but are sometimes seen as imperialist and rigid by other species. There is some animosity between turians and humans, largely due to the turian role in the First Contact War. This bitterness is slowly beginning to heal - as shown by the cooperation of the two species on the construction of the SSV Normandy - but many turians still resent humans, and vice versa. Biology Introduction One of only two known sapient avian species (the other being the raloi), turians typically stand over 6ft tall, some reaching heights of 7ft and above. Their features are predatory in nature - razor-sharp talons on their hands and feet, needle-like teeth, and forward-facing eyes. Humans in particular often draw similarities between turians and birds because of these features, in particular in the way they resemble dromaeosaurid species such as prehistoric raptors from Earth. Their lean build and four chambered heart allows them to bolt at speed for long distances, giving them incredible endurance and stamina. The curved structure of their legs combined with walking on their toes generates a vast amount of potential-kinetic energy in the calf muscles and ankles, granting the ability to leap high into the air. This also makes any kick received from a turian incredibly powerful - a well placed kick can, on rare occasions, even break bones. Turians have visual acuity several times that of a human due to a greater number of photoreceptors in the retina (up to 1,000,000 per square mm, compared against a mere 200,000 for humans), an exceptional number of nerves connecting these receptors to the brain, and an indented fovea, which magnifies the central portion of the visual field. Turian blood is blue in colouration due to the presence of hemocyanin, a protein containing copper - when oxygenated the blood is a dark navy colour, when deoxygenated it is clear and colourless. The most distinguishing feature of turians is their metallic carapace, which contains trace amounts of thulium. The turians evolved this trait as a defense against the greater levels of solar radiation that penetrate their homeworld's weak magnetic field. Sexual Dimorphism Turian mating behaviour is similar to that of birds from Earth - their species utilises a system of sexual selection known as intersexual selection (more commonly known as "female choice"). As suggested by its collequial name, intersexual selection is where females possess the choice in which males have earned the right to mate with them. Because females are the selective sex of the species, males have to compete with each other to attract a mate to ensure their genes are passed on to the next generation. As such turian males have developed several unique traits that make them different in appearance to females, which act as visual stimuli to impress potential mates - it is these features that females judge males by, and those with the most impressive features often win her favour. This sexual dimorphism between males and females is rather subtle to other species, like humans, who often find it difficult to differentiate between both turian sexes, but the easiest way to indentify a male from a female is to simply look at their head, as only the males possess the impressive crest of horns which turians are reknowned for. This crest, known as a fringe, is the most powerful weapon in a turian male's arsenal when it comes to attracting females - the longer the fringe, the more attractive the male is to a potential mate. Males will flaunt and display their crests in a rather garish fashion, with swift head-turns and head-bobbing to emphasise their fringe's length. Even though they possess other features on which to be judged, females will often outrightly ignore males with shorter stunted fringes, unless they are the lowest in the pecking order. Another feature at a male's disposal is their body plating. While all turians possess these scales to protect themselves for solar radiation, females tend to pair with males who possess thicker plates and larger carapaces. This is due to two reasons. Firstly, because of the strong levels of background radiation on their homeworld, the fertility rates of turian males are substantially lower than those of males from other species - having a thicker plating with a higher concentration of thulium often results in the males being more fertile, due to increased protection from sperm-killing solar radiation. The second reason concerns carapace size - males with larger carapaces are capable of better protecting vulnerable unplated offspring from solar radiation, reducing the liklehood of infant mortality and the developement of fatal radiation-induced cancers. The last distinctive feature that males possess are their leg spurs. In comparison to female leg spurs, male's tend to be much longer. This is due to the fact leg spurs were once used as weapons in primitive times, much like the spurs roosters possess on Earth, though over time evolution has rendered them near useless. The attraction to longer leg spurs is a throw back to the primitive turians - males who were in possession of longer leg spurs were able to better protect their mates and survive the harsh battles for dominance with other males. Section heading Write the second section of your page here.